Oak and Freshly Cut Grass
by The Lady Rogue
Summary: Somehow Pickett had managed to find himself an entire bunch of flowers. They were sitting on Newt's desk in MACUSA and Pickett was curled around a stem of jasmine. "How did you even get them in here?" Newt wondered aloud. Pickett shyly waved his twigs in greeting.


Somehow Pickett had managed to find himself an entire bunch of flowers. They were sitting on Newt's desk in MACUSA and Pickett was curled around a stem of jasmine.

"How did you even get them in here?" Newt wondered aloud. Pickett shyly waved his twigs in greeting.

With a flick of his wand Newt conjured a vase and placed the flowers in them. He admired the arrangement for a moment: a splash of deep purples, bright blues and shocking pinks with little dashes of creamy white that livened up his office nicely. He almost wished he didn't have to return them to their true recipient.

Newt huffed a laugh at his whimsy, scooped Pickett up and placed him in Newt's pocket, then went to find Tina, who giggled when he laid out the situation.

"Pickett managed to get a whole arrangement of flowers onto your desk?" she asked. "Wow. I almost can't believe it."

"I know!" Newt said. "Although ants have been known to lift fifty times their body weight, so anything's possible. But I'm worried that he's stolen them from someone - could you check no one's missing any flowers?"

"I'll ask around." Amusement glittered in Tina's eyes, although Newt wasn't sure why. "But I'm sure it's nothing to worry about."

Newt returned to his desk. He was scratching away at some parchment, plotting a sequel to his book, when a flicker of movement caught his eye.  
A heart shaped tray of chocolates hovered in mid air.

"Dougal," Newt said sternly. The tray sagged slightly and Dougal faded into sight. "Where did you get those?"

Dougal blinked and placed the chocolates on Newt's desk.

"You really ought to put those back where they came from," Newt informed him, then he noticed that the lid was already halfway off. He opened the box up fully and wasn't surprised to find that half the chocolates had been eaten. He sighed.

"I can't exactly give them back now," he grumbled. "Go on then." Dougal blinked, grabbed a chocolate, and, quicker than a flash of spell fire, shoved it into Newt's mouth.

"MFPH!" Newt said. He chewed on the chocolate while Dougal watched appraisingly. "Yes, very nice, thank you Dougal," he said. Apparently satisfied, Dougal pilfered another chocolate for herself and curled up in a corner, invisible but for the floating truffle. Newt smiled and turned back to his work. It was only five minutes later that he was disrupted again.

"Newt!" Tina shrieked as she ran into his office.

"Naughty!" Newt scolded Blueberry, the eldest occamy chick, as he untangled her from Tina's hair. There were bits of envelope and a half mangled card in her mouth that Newt removed, setting it next to the flowers. Blueberry crooned and wrapped herself around Newt's arm. "Are you alright?"

"Yes," Tina grumbled as Blueberry trilled an affirmative. Newt grinned at Tina, then stroked Blueberry's head, and Tina rolled her eyes.

"No one's confessed to owning the flowers," she said. "But somehow I feel like they've ended up in the right place."

Newt glanced at them; Pickett had escaped again and was curled up inside a rose this time.

"Pickett does like them," he agreed.

Tina sighed, and Newt realised he'd missed a social cue of sorts.

"Are you okay?" he double checked. Tina laughed and ruffled his hair.

"Don't worry about me, Newt." She swivelled on one foot and left the room.

Newt didn't bother trying to continue writing. He played with Blueberry for a while until he noticed Charlie, his niffler, sliding under the door. Newt knelt down to retrieve him.

"Oi!" a distinct voice called, and then Percival Graves, the real Percival Graves, burst into the room. Newt looked up at him from his knees. Percival look down.

"Hello," Newt squeaked, then coughed to clear his throat. Percival didn't say anything, but he offered a hand. Newt looked at it, then shook it, then stared up at Percival, utterly bemused as to why the man hadn't let go.

Percival snorted a laugh and used the hand he hadn't released to haul Newt to his feet.

"Oh," Newt said. He swayed slightly as he stood and noticed that Percival smelt rather nice, of oak and freshly cut grass.

"I see you got my presents," Percival said, a strange smile on his lips.

Newt shuffled aside and glanced at the bowtruckle infested flowers, the devoured chocolates and the ripped card.  
"Oh, yes, um, sorry about that, my creatures-"

"Happy Valentine's Day," Percival said.

Newt cut himself off and stared at Percival.

"What," he said, utterly astonished. "They're for me?"

Percival's eyes creased as he laughed. "Of course. I was about to bring them to you when that niffler of yours made off with my watch. I see they arrived anyway."

"Yes," Newt said. "Oh. Um. Thank you?" Then he shook the niffler out, and retrieved Percival's watch from the pile of money and jewellery. Percival took the watch, staring at Newt with what was hopefully amusement. Maybe even something akin to how Pickett looked at Brambles.

"This is a mating dance," he realised.

Percival grinned. "That's the one."

Newt hastily deposited his animals in his case before looking up at Percival from beneath his fringe.

He shuffled close and placed his hands on Percival's cheeks, stroking his thumbs along Percival's cheekbones, then pecked him on the lips. Percival leaned forward and the peck became a kiss, and Newt sighed into it as every inch of his body tingled with delight.

"So you'll go on a date with me?" Percival asked, his voice low. Newt smiled.

"You smell nice," he said as an answer.

"I'm going to take that as a yes," Percival replied, and kissed Newt again.


End file.
